Decision story: Balcooa, or Nutans or Polymorpha or Vulgaris Bamboo to plant?

I recently faced a dilemma about which bamboo species to plant on our 1-acre (40,000 sq ft) land. The Balcooa variety has traders but doesn't thrive on hill slopes. Nutans is the best variety, but there are no traders in India. Polymorpha has commercial value, but no traders in Pune, and no local traders has heard of Vulgaris. However, with the support from the Government of India for Bamboo usage, I'm confident that the latter three varieties will be in commercial demand in upcoming years. 

Following the logic of “when in doubt, go with all options,” I initially planned to order 250 plants of each of the four species (with 5m x 5m spacing, this would total 1,000 plants on 1 acre). But after consulting with a bamboo expert from Nipani, Latur (who is the vendor also), I was presented with an even better option: multi-cluster planting. Curious, I asked what it was.

For Rs 50, one pouch contains five different species instead of five plants of the same species. The offshoots from these multi-cluster plants inherit the best characteristics of each species, creating a hybrid variety.

When in doubt, go with all the options - to go with multi-clustered options 😁 

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